re worthy
tenant.

The end of this century of struggle was the campaign against the
Apaches in the Southwest along the Mexican border, where they made
their last stand under their able leader Geronimo.

The young doctor was detailed at once for duty on a broiling fourth of
July under Captain--afterwards General--Henry W. Lawton, and the next
day he rode a horse over thirty-five miles. That incident to the
initiated is noteworthy, but even more so is the fact that shortly
afterwards in a hard drive of five succeeding days he averaged
eighteen hours a day either in the saddle or on foot, leading the
horses. It was a stiff test. To make it worse he was given the one
unassigned horse--that is to say, a horse that was known as an
"outlaw"--whose jerky gait made each saddle-sore complain at every
step. The sun beat down fiercely; but, burned and blistered fore and
aft, Leonard Wood could still smile and ask for more action.

The stoicism of the tenderfoot who had come to play their game was not
lost on the troopers {27} with whom he was to spend the next two years
fighting Indians. He "healed in the saddle" at once and a few weeks
later was out-riding and out-marching the best of Captain Lawton's
command, all of whom were old and experienced Indian fighters.

This was not to be the last time that Leonard Wood was to find himself
faced at the outset by tacit suspicion and lack of confidence on the
part of the men he was to command. Years later in the Philippines he
was put up against a similar hostility, with responsibilities a
thousandfold more grave, and in the same dogged way he won
confidence--unquestioning loyalty--by proving that he was better than
the best. "Do it and don't talk about it," was his formula for
success. It was this quality in him that made it possible for Captain
Lawton to write to General Nelson A. Miles, who had then succeeded
General Crook, after the successful Geronimo campaign: "... I can only
repeat that I have before reported officially and what I have said to
you: that his services during the trying campaign were of the highest
order. I speak particularly of services {28} other than those
devolving upon him as a medical officer; services as a combatant or
line officer voluntarily performed. He sought the most difficult work,
and by his determination and courage rendered a successful issue of
the campaign possible."

General Crook, who commanded the troops along the border,
characterized the